GUITAR
JIMMY, THE EDGE, AND THE CHURCH | James Duke
When I was growing up, I had 3 main musical top ten songs of all time. Some of the moments tour, going to every show I could realistically get
influences. The Edge, Jimmy Page, and the I spent in worship at church changed my life to. When I’d get home, I would go straight to
music we played at my church. The first two forever. But it was the words and, perhaps, church (that’s what you do in the south. You go
are pretty typical. The later, however, wasn’t so the epic drum fills into the choruses that to church every time the doors are open), and
much. moved me. It wasn’t about the band in this couldn’t wait for them to start singing. I needed
style of music. It was the experience with my both.
If you know me at all, you know that U2 is my community of friends that made it what it was.
favorite band of all time. I discovered them It was a different kind of music.
The more I practiced and the more experience I
when I was ten years old and I became the got, more opportunities came to play and I took
biggest fan I knew. Led Zeppelin came in a those three influences with me. The Edge and
close second. Both of those bands, and guitar
players to be more specific, made me want to
be a musician. So did the music at my church.
I grew up in a charismatic, non-denominational
church. There was a big choir, an ensemble of
singers standing right in front of them, and the
main worship leader, or lead singer as most
other people in the world would have called
them. Over to the side, packed together like
sardines, was the band. Guitar, bass, drums,
keyboard, percussion, and a few brass players
thrown in for good, pentecostal measure. That
was the church band.
The music would maybe be described as
contemporary, but it was nothing like the music
The Edge and
Jimmy Page, along with many others, shaped
who I am as a guitar player. The Church shaped
who I am as a person.
Jimmy Page,
Today, as a professional musician, I take
along with many
others, shaped
who I am as a
guitar player.
those
influences
everywhere
I
go.
The
musical influences may or may not be much
of a resource, depending on the situation.
The church influence always is. A lot of the
work opportunities I take are because of the
community of people that are associated. It’s
not because of the music, money, or how much
I think I can rock on the songs. I need to be
able to connect with the people around me and
believe in them and what they are doing. I need
to know the music is going to have a lasting
The Church
impact.
my church plays now. Church music wasn’t like
it is now. If those old songs came up on your
spotify playlist, most of you would skip over it
immediately. I wouldn’t blame you. All you could
really hear was the singing and keyboards. The
shaped who I
am as a person.
The music I play at my church now (yes, I still
play guitar at my church.) is, maybe, a little
cooler than when I was a teenager. I get to
incorporate my own influences and personal
band wasn’t the focus. The band was just there style more in the songs. I certainly have a lot
so the singers would have something to sing more pedals on my pedalboard. The guitar
to. Every now and then the guitar would creep It was that community aspect, along with parts are more prominent, but I still try to
through the mix (probably because he turned the impact it made on my life spiritually, that approach it the same way I always have. It’s
himself way up) and my ears would perk up and made this music so important to me. It wasn’t still about the community I am a part of. It’s still
I’d get stoked! There it was! “There he is!”, I’d because it sounded like what I listened to in about Jesus. See you Sunday.
think to myself. I dreamed of playing guitar on my car when I left church. It sounded the exact that stage with that band. opposite of anything I would listen to. I was
listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I was blaring
There are still some songs from that time that I Alice In Chains when I was driving to church.
would still consider some of my favorite songs. Throw some Delirious? in there and you have
“I Exalt Thee” for example, is probably in my my playlist. I was road tripping, following U2 on
138
June 2019
James Duke
James is a musician, songwriter, and producer from
Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Most known for playing
guitar alongside artists like John Mark McMillan, Matt
Redman, Johnnyswim, and Steven Curtis Chapman,
James also records his own music under the name
All The Bright Lights. He currently lives in Nashville,
Tennessee with his wife and 3 kids..
Subscribe for Free...